I rode Duthie Hill Park this daylight savings morning of March 14, 2010. I’d like to thank my main man Adam for convincing me that it was worth waking up at 7am on a blustery 35 degree morning to go riding. It was more than worth it.
Duthie Hill Park is a new set of trails located about 30 minutes east of Seattle. There’s a ton of stuff to ride:
- 6 miles of awesome, flowing XC trails
- Some insane freeride drops and features that I wouldn’t dare hit with my abilities
- Awesome practice section of log rides, small drops, and more.
We rode for about two hours this morning on a little bit of everything. We rode all of the XC trails, practiced some super small drops, and went on the beginner freeride trail.
I have a feeling Duthie will become my new favorite place to ride. The freeride and practice areas are better than the Collonade, and the XC trails are as good as any in the Seattle area. I can’t wait to go back… and take some photos. But for now, enjoy this sick video made by one of the Duthie volunteers:
Wow, that title is disturbing. But I had to get your attention!
On Sunday night, I made Boeuf Bourguignon, one of the defining recipe’s in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking“. There’s not a lot I can say about the recipe that hasn’t been said before. Except this: while it was a fantastic stew, it did let me down. Why? Because everything I’d heard about the recipe suggested it would be the greatest meal I’d ever cook. And while yes, it was money, it definitely wasn’t mind blowing. It was merely great. Kind of like watching a good movie based on a mind blowing book.
Don’t get me wrong, I love sausage. But I’ve also recently realized that it dominates any meal. That’s not a bad thing; it’s just something I’ve come to realize.
This fact dawned on me when I cooked a sausage, white bean, and kale soup based on a recipe in the Whole Foods newsletter. It’s a tasty soup, it just tastes like “sausage” soup. I guess the beans and kale make it healthy. If you’re interested in making it, here’s how it goes down:
Brown one pound of any type of sausage in a heavy bottomed pot. Add a diced yellow onion and cook until it is translucent. Then add a quart of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add chopped up kale (thick stems removed), and cook until the kale is soft. Blend 3 cups of white beans with 3/4 of a cup of chicken broth in a blender. Add the mixture to the soup along with another 3 cups of white beans. Finally, add a little more broth if the soup needs it. (Mine had too much broth which definitely brought the soup down.) Add salt and pepper to taste.
I forgot how good clams are. This afternoon Anne suggested we buy some at the Ballard Farmer’s market and cook them with a little wine, garlic, and butter. And that’s just what we did.
Heat the garlic in a little oil, then add white wine and some water. Throw the clams in and enjoy the symphony as they pop open. When they’re done, pull ‘em out, and toss a few tablespoons of butter into the left over liquid. When the butter has melted, ladle the delicious sauce over the clams and serve with a hunk of bread.
The second, another simple one, a cilantro-lime dressing:
1/2 cup cilantro
1/4 cup oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of Mexican oregano
salt to taste
Mix the ground beef and the spices in a bowl and then throw them into a hot pan that is capable of searing the meat. For me, that meant putting them in my beloved cast iron frying pan.
While the meat is doing its thing, put all the ingredients for the dressing in a blender and liquefy.
Finally, in whatever order you choose, place the following:
Julia Child brings it home. She really does. First, it was a creamy tilapia. Now, it was a creamy chicken dish. What’s funny is that I attempted to cook something like this off the cuff recently. And I failed miserably. I can’t even remember why. But at least I’ll have this post to remind me how to do it properly moving forward.
What’s also funny is how simple the recipe is. Heat some oil and butter in a dutch oven until it starts to foam. Then add bone-in chicken (thighs and breasts are equally delicious). Cook them on both sides until they’ve reached a nice golden brown. Then salt them, and throw in an herb you have on hand (for me it was thyme). Put them in the oven at 350, and they’ll be done in about 30 minutes. If you want the timing to be perfect, set the skinnier pieces aside, and add them back about 10 minutes into the 3o minute session.
After 30 minutes, pull the dutch oven out of the oven. Ladle a tablespoon of the oil and fat into a saucepan and add a tablespoon of shallots. Cook that for about a minute, then throw in a half a cup of dry (but not young!) white wine. Boil that down to three tablespoons and put in a cup of cream. Cook that for a few minutes and you’re ready to go. Serve and enjoy. And pair it with a pinot noir or some other light red wine. Lovely really!
I cooked two bomb dishes in the last two weeks. The first was a helluva spaghetti and meatballs. Now for those of you who know me well, probably only my wife unfortunately, you’ll know that I don’t really like ground beef. I think it has a gamey taste that pretty much makes me want to barf directly back into my meal. So in order to make money meatballs, I use other ground meat. This time I used ground turkey (pretty much tasteless and fatless) and ground sausage meat (pretty much the tastiest and fattiest ground meat in the world). As I have been doing recently, I went with an Earthbound Farms recipe. Having cooked various meatball and meatloaf recipes in the past, I was pretty skeptical of this one due to the shear amount of ingredients involved. Beyond the standard cheese, milk, and breadcrumbs, it wanted every damn spice and herb in the kitchen. But whatever, I was feeling it. After throwing all of the ingredients into a bowl, I proceeded to use two of my favorite gadgets – a stand mixer and an ice cream scooper. I used the mixer to fold everything together, and the ice cream scooper to portion out evenly sized meatballs onto parchment paper, which is pretty money in its own right. I then covered them with plastic wrap and let them sit overnight. The next day I was in heaven. I ate them plain, I ate them with spaghetti, I ate them in sandwiches. They really were some of the best I’ve ever had.
Next up on the docket was chicken tortilla soup, which I’ve cooked probably a half million times before. It is one of my favorite soups if only for its fantastic broth. But I’m always disappointed that in the end, the only thing I end up chewing is chicken and tortillas. This time around, the Whole Foods recipe kiosk pulled through. It spit out a chicken tortilla soup recipe that included corn, spinach, and copious amounts of fresh chopped cilantro on top. This time, unlike my previous attempt, I remembered to set aside some fresh chopped red onions. So for this go round, I had my standard chicken and tortillas, but also cilantro, fresh chopped onions, spinach, and corn. With a fuller bowl, I was much more satisfied.
I’ve made this salsa twice before (once for last year’s superbowl), and I plan on making it again for tomorrow’s superbowl. It’s unbelievable. It take some time though, but I assure you it is well worth it.
My new Earthbound Farms cookbook delivered last night. It was a simple French dish, the kind of dish I’d been trying to find for quite some time. It was shrimp, simmered in butter and white wine, tossed with linguine. Some of the nice touches included:
- A shrimp stock which you made by boiling the shrimp shells and tails for 15 minutes ahead of time.
- Diced tomatoes and basil, which gave the dish a touch more flavor and complexity.
- Lemon juice, which added a subtle vinegary layer.
My issues with the recipe were similar to that of the other recipe I’ve cooked from the book. The proportions were off again. 1 pound of shrimp for 4 people? That’s enough for 2 people. 1 pound of pasta? That’s enough for about 3-4 people. And 1 whole lemon juiced into the dish? It gave it a hell of bite. I’d cut that in half.
In the end, complaints with proportions aside, the dish was money.
